Patricia made it clear when we were dating that she had a strong desire for missions. As for
me, I was extremely happy where I was at and very reluctant to even consider the possibility. However, after some arm-twisting,
we did a short-term trip to Mexico with our youth group in 1998. The Lord used that trip to open my eyes.

In July 1999, I accompanied the youth group to Philadephia, PA for a "street-ministy" evangelistic
missions trip. God once again, opened my heart and created a desire in me to reach out to those that need the Lord.

At the end of summer 2000, I began a study entitled Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby.
The study challenged me in my personal relationship with Christ. I listened to what God had to say to me regarding "self
denial" and I longed to be obedient to His will. So began our journey to a place on the map that I had never heard of.....

The First Email...(Monday, October 16, 2000)

Hello, my name is John McClung and I am a friend ofDonnie Luper. Upon his return from Suriname, he toldmy
wife and me about some interesting things that arehappening there. I'm not sure how much he shared withyou
(about us); so allow me to tell you how the Lordis directing us. We both are feeling the call to gointo missions.
My desire is to teach missionarychildren and possibly indigenous children.I have a B.A. in Elementary Education with
emphasis inSpecial Education. I am currently certified to teachElementary Education K-6, Mentally Impaired K-12,
andLearning Disabled K-12. Presently, I am teaching 5thGrade regular ed. This is my second year teaching 5thgrade
regular ed. I taught Special Ed. for 4 yearsprior to this. Three years was at the High Schoollevel and
the 4th year was at the elementary level.My wife has a B.A. in Psychology and an M.S. inRehabilitation Counseling
and Vocational Evaluation. She is a certified rehabilitation counselor and acertified vocational evaluation specialist.
Shecurrently works for the state of North Carolina in alocal high school as a counselor in a transitionemployment
program. During her free time, my wifeassists me with my clerical duties required fromteaching. We both
would like to know what your needsare and how/if the Lord could use us in Suriname. Weare curious about job
positions/descriptions, housing,salary(?), etc. We are eager to get into the missionfield by next Aug/Sept.As
for our Christian Service, we are both YouthLeaders (along with Donnie Luper and his wife) at ourlocal church.
I attended one year of Bible college in1986. We both have participated in short termmissions. We both
have a close, intimate relationshipwith Christ. We strive daily to be closer to Him, andwe strive daily to be
obedient to His will.We are praying diligently, and trusting that Godplaces us where He wants us.I encourage you
to reply and we both covet yourprayers.

Thank you,

John and Patricia McClung

The Reply...(Tuesday, October 17, 2000)

Dear John and Patricia:

Thank you for you email. It is exciting to let the Lord lead -
scary too at times. The school is in a transitional stage at this particular time. It has been largely a SIL staffed school
and we are gradually changing over to a direct hire staff. The school is now affliated with the Network of Christian International
Schools, www.nics.org . If you are looking at a long termcommitment for overseas I would recommend that you raise some
support so that if you plan to start a family or already have one you will have a support base in place. You can use NICS
as your sending agency. The school will provide housing and utilities. It will be necessary to raise support for
your airfare and local transportation. My wife and I live on theschool's salary for a single teacher - about $400
- $500 per month. You will need to raise support to complement this salary. A used car costs US $4500 - currently
gas is less expensive than in the US $.40 per liter.

If your wife works at school she would also be entitled to a single
salary. I would advise her to take in some of the College Board workshops for high school counsellors. At the present time
we offer the University of Nebraska correspondence course to high school students but we are moving away from that to
a traditional high school. I can picture Patricia being the high school college counsellor as well as assisting in overseeing
thecorrespondence program during our transition. I think it may be possible to develop a American college counselling
ministry through the US Embassy as a sideline and an interesting area of ministry. Check out my previous school's website
for what I would like to see happen here www.ics.edu.hk Look under"resources" and "colleges and universities" to see how
the program wasdeveloped in Hong Kong. You can email Sue Farley at ics@ics.edu.hk for a description of what she is doing.

We are anticipating a growth of the school in the
area of reaching the hostcountry population as well as serving the missionary community. I am new to the school. I
was the founding principal of the International Christian School in Hong Kong for the past eight years. I envision that
the American Cooperative School could develop into a smaller version of ICS Hong Kong. I have been in the Christian schools
ministry for the past 36 years with four years in public schools.